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About Joyce Clark

Contact information for Councilmember Joyce Clark
Home: 623-772-9795
Cell: 602-320-3422
Office: 623-930-2249
Please call between the hours of 9 AM - 5 PM
Email:
clarkjv@aol.com
jclark@glendaleaz.com
Joyce Clark is a 49 year resident of Glendale. She has a BA in History and Education and graduated from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Her past careers include teacher of high school history, small business ownership of a book store, a professional ceramist and was the founder of a retail craft gallery. Joyce and her husband, Charles, have three children and seven grandchildren.

Joyce was first elected as your Yucca district Councilmember in 1992 and served Glendale and the Yucca district from 1992 to 1996. Joyce took a four year break from public service when her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s to personally care for her. In 2000 she successfully ran again for Yucca district councilmember as a write in candidate against the incumbent. She is the only candidate in Arizona to achieve a write in victory over an incumbent. She was your voice for the Yucca district for 16 years.

Joyce retired in December, 2012, and as a private citizen Joyce did many of the things she never had the time to pursue. Two of those are the tender care and feeding of her koi pond and blog writing on issues in Glendale, Arizona.

In March of 2016, Joyce announced that she would leave retirement and run for the Yucca district council seat in Glendale. Once again Joyce defeated an incumbent and on December 13, 2016 she took office as the Yucca district councilmember for another four year term, ending in December of 2020.

Joyce is the only elected official in the State of Arizona to have defeated an incumbent as a write-in candidate and then to defeat a second, different incumbent as a candidate.

Apr 13

28

Last night I watched the last Coyotes game of this season on television. The team ended on a high note by beating the Anaheim Ducks. I am an unabashed “newbie” to Coyotes hockey. Although they had been playing in Glendale since 2003 I was consumed with my duties as a Councilmember. I barely knew they existed despite season after season of games played in our city-owned arena.

Then disaster struck in 2009 with the Moyes’ bankruptcy. Suddenly I was reading countless Memoranda of Understanding, meeting potential owners, and rereading old as well as newly drafted arena management agreements. Council meetings lasted long into the night as each potential owner was brought forward and Coyotes fans and opposition contingents spoke before packed Council Chambers. All failed. Still, even with my sudden immersion, I was not a fan—until April and May of 2012—playoff season. As a councilmember I had the opportunity to attend those games and to meet the players, the coaches and the support staff.

All of a sudden I became a fan. One could not help but become one. I met young men filled with passion and pride for their sport. I’ve met football players, basketball players and baseball players and none meet the standard of grace and dignity that I saw in these men – these hockey players. (I will add one disclaimer. Larry Fitzgerald also epitomizes that same grace and dignity. Someday I will do a blog on pro athletes and their lack of respect for the very fans responsible for their status.) This Coyotes team showed me that they respect their sport and that their fans are an important part of the game. From Shane Doan taking time after a game to visit with fans, especially the youngest of them to Paul Bissonnette sponsoring a group of underprivileged kids to a game. I talked to Don Maloney and Dave Tippett, both highly skilled professionals and outstanding ambassadors of their sport. I talked to members of the support staff who come to work because they love their jobs and assisting these men in their quest for excellence. I got to know Mike Nealy and Jim Voss, who despite ownership uncertainty have incredibly increased the fan base and game attendance. I respect what they have been able to achieve.

Now it became important to me to insure that the Coyotes stayed where I believed they belonged. They are an asset to this community and can contribute to making a difference in the lives of many. I felt sure we were about to welcome Greg Jamison as the new team owner. The man impressed me not just with his business acumen but with his passion for the sport. Trust me; I have learned that it is an unusual combination. It was not to be and I left my office this past January with ownership still in turmoil feeling frustrated and angry that there was no resolution.

I do not know who the NHL will choose as the new owner but it discomfits me that the decision will be based on what I believe will be exclusively dollars and cents. There should be extra points awarded for intangible qualities that rise above the “bottom line.” Instead I see some potential owners-not all-who consider buying the team wholly as an investment opportunity. They and their investors expect a substantial return on their investment. I have not seen their passion for the sport.

It is akin to a great chef or artist. They don’t become great because of their skill in the use of fundamentals. Thousands of people learn the fundamentals and never rise to greatness. Those that do become great do so because their passion for what they do causes them to transfer that passion to us in a tangible fashion that we can understand and appreciate. That is what a new team owner must also do – transfer that passion to us in a tangible fashion causing us to be as excited about the team and its future as we, once upon a time, had been. The promise is there, just below the surface, awaiting an owner who believes as we have always believed. It is awaiting an owner who can successfully transfer his passion and belief in the team’s greatness to us. Perhaps I am being Don Quixote-ish. Perhaps I am hoping for a miracle but miracles do happen.

We end this bittersweet season in limbo, not knowing if that was indeed the last game here for the Coyotes. I read the unspoken and unanswered question in recent expressions of fan appreciation for a season, too short, just passed. I read their bravado expressed in the belief that the Coyotes will return next season but underneath it all was a current of wistful uncertainty. I saw and heard it in the faces of and in the voices of Tyson Nash, Todd Walsh and Matthew McConnell, at the end of the last televised game. Not daring to talk about ownership. Not daring to wonder if the team would be playing here in October and acting as if this would be just the end of a regular season and not the end of our Coyotes.

It is as if everyone with a commitment to this team has suffered death by a thousand paper cuts and yet, all have remained resilient and survived. It has survived because of the indomitable spirit of the players, coaches and staff who daily rose above the uncertainty. It has survived because WE BELIEVE… that the Coyotes will stay here…in the desert.

3 Comments

Joyce, thank you for everything you have done. I moved to Glendale in 1992…long before Westgate was developed or thought of. I believe that with both Mr. Pastor’s and Mr. Gosbee’s presence at the last few games is a good and most positive sign. I for one wasn’t in total “belief” that a sale would happen. But both of these men and any “groups” etc. they are associated with are serious about buying the team and have the “mojo” to complete the process. I think they will, its its the bottom of the ninth with two outs and our homer run hitter are at the plate, and another on deck.

It is important to me that they stay here as well..If we are lucky enough to make that happen the fans HAVE to come as much as they possibly can.
I looked around, first in line to get in the doors at Fan Appreciation Night and saw a great mass of fans wearing Coyote sweaters.
Fans, that I had not seen before or in nearly great numbers…the games of 8500, 8900, 11,500, 12,934 and 12,588 (game 2 days before Fan Appreciation Night)
If even a fraction of the good fans that i saw on FAN, showed up for the other games (and please no “I have to work”….(like they don’t work in Chicago where there are 22,000?)
New leadership in Columbus has proven that things can change and fans can be put in the seats on a consistent basis. In March and the start of April they had consistent 13,000 and change in the seats, with a great goalie, Stanley Cup possibilities and other aquisitions along with a sense from the fans of stability they finished off with an attendance of over 19,000…
So, they have proven that an infusion of addditional leadership can work.
The Coyotes have THE BEST GM and Coach in the league..
When they get a new owner, the second or third order of business (after signing Maloney and Tippett to new contracts) should be to beef up the PR department, advertise more and get butts in the seats….like the last night only better.